The Perseid Collapse: The Perseid Collapse, Book 1

2019. Six years after the Jakarta Pandemic “decimated” the world's population; life is back to normal for the Fletchers and most Americans. The United States stands at the brink of a complete domestic and international resurgence, with stories of confidence and prosperity dominating the headlines. Appearances can be deceiving. An undercurrent of paranoia and fear still runs strong below the surface; the collective angst spawned by 28 million American deaths forever stamped into population's psyche.

The Borrowed World: A Novel of Post-Apocalyptic Collapse, Volume 1

In a night of devastating terror, ISIS operatives have unleashed a coordinated attack on America's infrastructure. With thousands of trapped travelers and scarce law enforcement, the miles between Jim Powell and his family become a brutal gauntlet where the rules of civilized society no longer apply. As Jim puts his years of preparation and planning to the test, he is forced to ask himself if he has what it takes to make it home. Does he have the strength - the brutality - required to meet this new world toe-to-toe?

What's Left of My World: A Story of a Family's Survival

Lauren Russell often wondered why her father had been so adamant about teaching her skills that most other fathers wouldn't even consider teaching their daughters. Ever since she was little, she had been taught how to live and survive outdoors, and how to use firearms to protect herself and those around her. Some of the training had been a bit extreme. Or had it been? Many of her questions were answered the day the world as she knew it ended.

Going Home: A Novel: The Survivalist Series, Book 1

If society collapsed, could you survive? When Morgan Carter's car breaks down 250 miles from his home, he figures his weekend plans are ruined. But things are about to get much, much worse: the country's power grid has collapsed. There is no electricity, no running water, no Internet, and no way to know when normalcy will be restored - if it ever will be.

Cry Havoc

The news is full of disturbing events today. There's war and rumors of war. There's the false recovery of the economy. Faith in the US economy is extremely low. Foreign banks have either slowed their purchases of Treasury Bonds or, in a few cases, begun unloading them. We have a current election that is rife with corruption, extreme partisanship, and outright fraud. It would appear the left in the country is ready to do about anything to see their candidate elected.

Dark New World, Book 1: An EMP Survival Story

Three people from different walks of life each experience the end of America. Cassy is a 33-year-old prepper and single mother, away on business. Ethan is a hacker and conspiracy nut living underground. Frank is a family man out camping with friends and family. When a devastating EMP attack in the middle of the night destroys America's infrastructure, they are propelled on an unforgettable journey across an ocean of chaos to reach safety...Safety from an unknown invader and from once-fellow Americans now hungry and desperate.

36 Hours: The Blackout Series, Book 1

This is not the story of preppers with stockpiles of food, weapons, and a hidden bunker. This is the story of Colton Ryman, his stay-at-home wife, Madison, and their teenage daughter, Alex. In 36 Hours, the Ryman family and the rest of the world will be thrust into the darkness of a post-apocalyptic world.

Catalyst Downward Cycle

Life in a remote oceanfront town begins to spiral downward after a massive solar flare causes a global blackout. As planes fall from the sky, cars suddenly die, and most electrical devices stop working with catastrophic consequences. But in the chaos that follows an ordinary man helplessly watches the world around him begin to break down. While the thin veneer of normalcy stubbornly shrouds the coming collapse.

Journey: Sunfall, Book 1

Ripley's a tomboy at heart who has never met a stranger. Her plans were to finish her veterinary studies and take her family to the country, where life wouldn't be such a struggle. She thought the worst she'd have to deal with at the University of Maryland were the unwelcome advances and attitudes of affluent students, and the occasional East Coast hurricane. She never expected the sun to fall down.

Behold, Darkness and Sorrow: Seven Cows, Ugly and Gaunt, Book One

Ambitious college student Daniel Walker has his world turned upside down when he begins having prophetic dreams about the judgment coming upon America. Through one of his dreams, Daniel learns of an imminent threat of an EMP attack that will wipe out America's electric grid and all computerized devices, sending the country into a technological dark age. Living in a nation where all life-sustaining systems of support are completely dependent on electricity and computers, the odds for survival are dismal.

The Survivalist: Frontier Justice

The Superpox-99 virus has wiped out nearly the entire human race. Governments have collapsed. Cities have become graveyards filled with unspeakable horror. People have resorted to scavenging from the dead, or taking from the living. The entire industrialized world has become a wasteland of abandoned cars, decaying bodies, and feral animals. To stay alive, U.S. Deputy Marshal Mason Raines must forage for food, water, and gasoline while outgunning those who seek to take advantage of the apocalyptic anarchy. Together with his giant Irish wolfhound, Bowie, he aligns with survivors of the town of Boone in a life and death struggle against a gang of violent criminals. With each deadly encounter, Mason is force to accept his place as one of the nation's few remaining lawmen. In a world now populated by escaped convicts, paranoid mutants, and government hit squads, his only hope to save the townspeople is to enforce his own brand of frontier justice.

No Direction Home: Ordinary People Surviving Extraordinary Times, Book 1

A college student in Knoxville. An Irish couple on their dream vacation in Orlando. A bank robber in an Atlanta prison...what do they all have in common? They are survivors of vPx073, the most deadly virus ever to be unleashed on the planet. One that has brought civilization to a standstill.

Locker Nine: A Novel of Societal Collapse

Grace Hardwick's dad is a science fiction writer who makes his living destroying the world. When Grace decides to go away for her first year of college her dad, Robert, can't help but think of all of the potential ways that society could collapse and strand his daughter hundreds of miles from home. Then, near the end of her freshman year, it happens.

Jim &#34;The Impatient&#34; says:"THE WORLD HAS BECOME GRAND THEFT AUTO"

One Second After

Already cited on the floor of Congress and discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a book all Americans should read, One Second After is the story of a war scenario that could become all too terrifyingly real. Based upon a real weapon - the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) - which may already be in the hands of our enemies, it is a truly realistic look at the awesome power of a weapon that can destroy the entire United States.

Dark Titan Journey: Sanctioned Catastrophe, Book 1

A massive solar storm - the Coronal Mass Event that had been predicted for years - finally hit Earth, and the electromagnetic pulse it created instantaneously threw the world back to the Bronze Age. Soon, the radioactive fallout from space would spread death and disease across the globe.

Unexpected World: The EMP Survivor Series, Book 1

Author Chris Pike's debut novel Unexpected World is a gritty and compelling survival tale about human courage and steadfast determination to live, to endure, and to persevere against all odds. Assistant District Attorney Dillon Stockdale is on the phone with his daughter when an EMP obliterates the entire electrical grid of the United States. Anything relying on a computer is fried, including the plane his daughter is on.

Stryker

ISIS has unleashed a weaponized version of the deadly Ebola virus, killing 97% of the world's population. Only the immune and those who hunkered down in remote locations remain. Through the chaos strides a giant of a man known only as Stryker. He is a former Force Recon Marine, who has lost as much as anyone, but fights to preserve his honor and creed in the face of slave traders and rogue military elements who prey on the innocent.

Fractured State

In 2035, the southwestern United States is ravaged by drought, reeling from an environmental catastrophe that has left the landscape a chaotic, depleted ruin. California, still viably inhabitable due to its oppressive social controls, marshals state-of-the-art surveillance technology and totalitarian policies to preserve its fragile hold on rapidly dwindling resources and an increasingly unsettled population.

Survive and Escape: The Blue Lives Apocalypse Series, Book 1

Sam and Jane Archer walk out of a backcountry hiking trip into a living nightmare. Their car is vandalized and dead, along with every other vehicle in the trailhead parking lot. Unable to get a cell phone signal, and spooked by a threatening encounter - they resign themselves to a long hike home, suspecting a possible EMP attack against the United States.

Surrender the Sun

In the year 2030 the Maunder Minimum, a period of solar inactivity, will cause a mini-ice age like it did between the years 1645 and 1710. When it does, Bishop will have to save her not only from the effects of severe weather but also from man himself. Maeve Tildon and her son Ben live alone in the rural town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Since her husband died in the war, she's barely kept her head above water, and when the first freeze strikes in the fall, she's completely unprepared for what lies ahead.

77 Days in September

On a Friday afternoon before Labor Day, Americans are getting ready for the holiday weekend, completely unaware of a long-planned terrorist plot about to be launched against the country. Kyle Tait is settling in for his flight home to Montana when a single nuclear bomb is detonated 300 miles above the heart of America.

Redfall: Boxed Set: American Prepper Series, Books 1 and 2

Society will collapse in days... and that's the good news. When red storm clouds appear and begin to spread their potentially toxic rain across the planet, the mysterious weather phenomenon grounds all travelers and threatens to take down the grid, sending civilization back to the Stone Age.

E.M.P.: The End of the Grid as We Know It: All at Once, Book 1

The United States may have just come to an end in this exciting post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller about several electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks all at once. Not only has the electrical grid come crashing down, but all other critical infrastructures of the country have ceased to exist, leaving the country a vast wasteland, where only the ruthless and resourceful survive.

Publisher's Summary

In the late fall of 2013, a lethal pandemic virus emerges from the Islamic Republic of Indonesia (IRI) and rages unchecked across every continent. When the Jakarta Flu threatens his picture-perfect Maine neighborhood, Alex Fletcher, Iraq War veteran, is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. As a seasoned sales representative for Biosphere Pharmaceuticals, makers of a leading flu virus treatment, Alex understands what a deadly pandemic means for all of them. He particularly knows that strict isolation is the only guaranteed way to protect his family from the new disease.

With his family and home prepared for an extended period of seclusion, Alex has few real concerns about the growing pandemic. But as the deadliest pandemic in human history ravages northern New England, and starts to unravel the fabric of their Maine neighborhood, he starts to realize that the flu itself is the least of his problems.

A mounting scarcity of food and critical supplies turns most of the neighbors against him, and Alex is forced to confront their unexpected hostility before it goes too far. Just when he thinks it can't get any worse, the very face of human evil arrives on Durham Rd and threatens to destroy them all. Alex and his few remaining friends band together to protect the neighborhood from a threat far deadlier than the flu, as they edge closer to the inevitable confrontation that will test the limits of their humanity.

I'm a little over half way done with this book, but I am going to go ahead and write this review, because at this point I've been mostly bored, so even if the book does pick up the pace, half of the book was still boring, thus earning 3 stars. I'll listen to the rest, because I'm this far in, and I find the premise of a pandemic highly interesting. So, I'm just hoping something will actually happen (and hopefully not all in the last chapter - pet peeve).

Some of the problem is the semi-bland narration. It's not offensive (like too many I've listened to), but makes the characters sound bored most of the time.

The writer talks far too much about details that don't matter. I don't really care which shoe a character puts on first. I like details about surroundings or characters that actually tell me something about what/who they are. But too many details in this book don't enlighten you in any way, they just fill pages and waste time.

Yes, some of these kinds of details are also in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but they told you something about the character and there were far fewer than in this book.

Are good editors so hard to find? Or is nobody listening to the editors? It just seems that too many books suffer from a lack of editing :(

From the reviews I read I thought this was going to be an intelligent EOTW survival novel centered on family facing the real threat of a pandemic. In my opinion it only made my blood pressure go up without offering much else.

The good: This book tackles the subject of a pandemic with a fair degree of accuracy. It portrays a virus that originates overseas and quickly spreads to all nations, including the USA. The book centers around one family that apparently expected such a scenario and stocked up appropriately. As the pandemic worsens so does the behavior of the neighbors that surround this family. The tensions between families and neighbors is realistic.

The bad: The main character, Alex, is described as a former marine who saw combat, but approaches situations in this book like a naive idiot at times. The author tells the reader/listener about the chaos and societal breakdown going on all around the main characters, yet they seem to sleep soundly and play games like they're living through a trivial snow storm and the roads are just temporarily closed. They seem to have every provision necessary to cope with this chaos and don't need to rely on anyone but themselves. The publisher must have forced the author to cut back on the "conservatives are idiots, and liberal progressives are smarter" banter, knowing that this would alienate most of the readers/listeners to this type of novel. However, this northeastern mentality still creeps out and is scattered throughout the story. Did it matter to the story that family hates Fox news, is PC in their conversation, does not mention faith and is disgusted at the thought of eating red meat? I'm no neo-con but It made me relate that much less to the main characters. I felt an undertone that the author is somewhat satisfied writing about the world's mass population dying off and leaving the "intellectuals" remaining.

This isn't a terrible book but I wouldn't listen to it again. I wasn't left thinking that I got anything substantially useful from having spent the time listening to it.

Constant jabs at Fox News. For instance, in a phone conversation the protagonist questions his brother's getting his information from Fox News. This is ridiculous because the brother in question was unquestioning in his acceptance of government assurances the the pandemic is not as bad as some people were saying. Furthermore, the NPR watching leftist protagonist is the prepper? Seems to me that the author has reversed the roles here. Yes we get it, the author has a political point of view, but give it a rest at some point.<br/><br/>I know this is nitpicking but it is the details that paint a picture.<br/><br/>Beyond this, the story could have been better fleshed out with more realistic (less stiff) dialogue and better imagery (similes and metaphors). It does not help that the narrator barely has a pulse.<br/><br/>Disappointing.

I'm really glad I picked this one up. It was a great listen. I have to admit it started slow and it took me a while to appreciate the narrator's delivery, but once this story gets going, you can see that it's really a great book. And scary in terms of the feasibility of the story. I enjoy stories about survival and enjoy them even more when it's done without zombies. There are some great reminders in this book, common sense things to help you get prepared for the worst case scenario. The main character is a smart, stand up guy and I was sorry to hear this one come to an end. So much so, I'm going to give it another listen. Highly recommend! I won't give away any spoilers, I will just say some of the characters are very frightening. So if you enjoy this type of genre, you won't be sorry.

NO! The author gives WAY to much detail on things not needed. It gets so annoying I wanted to scream at the author. For example, you have to hear the reader describe the pattern of underwear someone is wearing and there isn't even a need to let us know the character IS wearing underwear at that time to picture the scene. The story is too descriptive and goes into detail about the relationships of the 10 main characters in the story. It doesn't go into a lot of detail at all about the epidemic outside this small community or about the flu strain and it's symptoms. It became very boring and I was stuck listening to it just to kill time.

Has The Jakarta Pandemic turned you off from other books in this genre?

NO

What didn’t you like about Joseph Morton’s performance?

Him trying to do a female voice is quite annoying, almost unbearable to listen to. He gives too many long pauses and his style is the same in every book he narrates, that I can't enjoy any book he reads now.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Jakarta Pandemic?

too many to give-but the main one is the scene where the neighbors family is found dead, killed by the neighborhood infiltrators. At least take the part out about the small children being found killed. The characters lack so much emotion that you can't just all of the sudden throw the worst thing in the world at the reader near the end of the book, babies murdered, when there has been no dramatic scenes or emotions in the first 3/4s of the book! <br/><br/>I will also tell you that the relationship between the husband and wife is weird. You go into so much detail about everything, but I am still unable to understand their relationship. They don't act very loving except for some weird, lets get busy in the bed, scenes. They seem cold and annoyed with each other the whole time except when the author tries to make them love each other.

Any additional comments?

If you like books that are more descriptive than eventful and intriguing to listen to, then this is your book. If you get annoyed easily at nonsensical crap, then stay away!

This is a story that can one day actually happen. I never really realized all that can go on with a Pandemic. I really enjoyed Alex and Kate, they kept me laughing as the two interacted with each other. Kate reminds me of myself at times. But great story and had a hard time putting down my book.

The author takes what could otherwise have been a great plot and destroys it with awkwardly applied liberal talking points. It's like the author tried to hide his views, but couldn't help himself when it came to certain topics. Some highlights of liberal idiocy include:The protagonist is ex-military, so of course he has PTSD and his wife is worried he may go crazy on them.The only other guy in the neighborhood who is reasonably prepared for a long term food shortage and has firearms is a "rabid Republican" and owns "entirely too many guns". (Which is odd, considering the protagonist has plenty).The protagonist, who is a combat-veteran Marine, is afraid to carry a loaded shotgun, preferring to "load it if he must". Uh-huh---sure--cause there is always plenty of time to stop and load a pump action shotgun in face-to-face altercations.The protagonist (did I mention he is supposedly a combat-veteran?) calls his AR-15 an "assault rifle". Fox News is trashed as unreliable, but NBC has cutting edge information that undermines the official federal position on the pandemic. The protagonist refuses to share his own food and supplies (reasonable under the circumstances) and is generally against any 'share the wealth' programs early on, but has no problem sanctioning squatters' liberation of his neighbor's homes. (Don't take my stuff, take theirs!)

The end result is a very frustratingly unbelievable story. I don't mind listening to a survival story written by liberal or anti-gun author, heck, Stephen King writes quite a few good ones. But this author does a poor job of separating his thoughts from the thoughts of his characters.

Second complaint is the useless minutia of description. We have to suffer through the exact color and type of clothes the character dons, along with the clothes he failed to choose, multiple times for no apparent reason. Also, a long dissertation on how the neighborhood has a high rate of anorexia early on in the book is a precursor to us discovering... nothing. Its like the author had a minimum word count he had to fulfill and decided to do it by adding trivial nonsense.

Lastly, the narrator was mind-numbing. I've listened to 4th graders with better reading skills. It sounds like he is reading the phone book. It is terribly annoying when you cannot tell whether a narrator is reading dialogue. This guy's voice remains completely unchanged from dialogue to non-dialogue, making it hard to figure out when the character stopped talking.

First this is a good book, all politics aside it is a thrilling story to listen to. Second, it is an important book, the details and struggles, both physical and mental have a genuine ring of truth to them and the author has done a terrific job painting the picture of life in his community if a real pandemic breaks out. The narration is very good and feels like the right match for the tone of the story. Some of the reviews bring up politics, there are a few mentions in this arena but they do not overwhelm the story and no matter what side of the aisle you are on it should not be a factor, and when I say a few, I mean a few and they are not overbearing. In addition some reviews thought the main character, Alex, did not meet opposition with enough force, I thought the author did good job of addressing that moral chasm, Alex has a nice home, wonderful family, and in general a lot to loose, the bad actors have nothing to loose and are very comfortable with violence, the problem for the good member of society is it is always difficult to cross that line and get dragged into world where the possibility of loosing everything is real. This dilemma was well portrayed and even though you wish for action sooner, if you really put yourself in the shoes of the main character, a responsible person, it becomes easy to be empathetic with him. The dynamics of the neighborhood were extremely well developed, pitting the prepared against the frivolous and unprepared. I enjoyed the community meeting convened and the action plan proposed, which included "resource sharing". The personal struggles within the prepared community as they shared what they could while balancing the needs for their own families against an event of unknown duration was well argued.I would highly recommend this story, it is a good story on its own and a good mental exercise, written with care and a well studied perspective, one which may be of great value for you and your family.

What was terrifying about this book, and had me actually scared, wasn't the virus, but the people and their subsequent actions when society crumbled and survival of the fittest incurred. And, how all of that encroached on the protagonist's neighborhood. There are those that plan ahead, and those that wish to take from those who have. Konkoly created some terrifying interlopers in to this former bedroom community that had me pulling my covers up to my chin. Looking forward to his next book. Also, the narration was excellent.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. It was the reactions of the neighbors to each other, and the disintegration of society and civil behavior.

A story that grabs you...rolls along, keeps you interested, with a very sharp ( actually, extremely sharp ) performance by Joseph Morton. ( He is starting to be one of my favorite performers of late ). Only drawback is the conclusion, which I thought was rather abrupt and didn't quite fit with the rest of the presentation. It was almost as if the author ran out of material or something.

This should be listened to for the characters and the presentatin, not the conclusion. Well worth it for the former however. Enjoy it like i did.

I found this a breath of fresh air, not the usual gun obsessed stuff with Zombies or Vampires running around everywhere.

This book focuses on one families attempt to survive a Spanish flu type outbreak similar to that of 1919. Most of the story examines human nature and paints an all too realistic picture of what could happen when medical and infrastructure resources get over stretched.

If the narrator had been better I would have given it 5 stars but he did a reasonable job.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

G

2/3/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Enjoyed!"

Enjoyed it, not a classic but good none the less. Would recommend to anybody with an interest in the area.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mr. A. J. H. Jackson

London, UK.

4/16/13

Overall

"Excellent & different!"

I thought this was a fantastic listen - the way the tension builds between the characters involved is incredibly well executed and gripping with a real sense of dread building as the story progresses - had my heart in my throat on more than one occasion. Although not in the same genre I think this would appeal to anyone who enjoys Apocalyptic 'type' writing.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mr

EDINBURGH, United Kingdom

12/23/12

Overall

"Fast moving and thought provoking"

Highly readable and nail biting at times - a deadly influenza pandemic unfolds as seen through the eyes of a former serviceman, now working as a sales rep for a drug company manufacturing antivirals. Although the virology can be faulted and the book is clearly fictional the author delights in detailed, precise scenarios. You understand how ordinary American suburban families could be impacted by growing lawlessness.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mr

8/8/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Slow start but good story once going."

This story took a bit of time to get into not helped by the relatively dull monotone if the narrator. If you can get through the first few chapters you'll be hooked with a nervous excitement you'd usually find with a horror story. The story depicts how easily society could break down and I bet by the time you have finished the book you'll have certainly found yourself planning how you'd handle such a disaster & improve your home security.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Roderic

Victoria Park, Australia

12/26/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"The Dialogue is the Apocalypse"

What disappointed you about The Jakarta Pandemic?

The dialogue was trite and wooden, as was the narrator's delivery of it. I did not believe any of the characters and especially found their responses to extreme situations unrealistic.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The only redeeming feature was that I wanted to find out how it ended in broad terms. I was much more interested in the body count than the welfare of Alex Fletcher and his family.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

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